French Open TNT host humiliates Tim Henman live on air after controversy

Rachel Stringer reminded viewers of an unfortunate incident in one of Tim Henman's matches

Tim Henman’s TNT Sports co-host called him out live on air for a controversial incident that happened in one of his Wimbledon matches three decades ago. Lorenzo Musetti narrowly avoided disqualification from the French Open on Tuesday when he kicked a ball away in frustration and unintentionally hit a line judge. And it reminded Rachel Stringer of a mishap in one of Henman’s doubles matches at the All England Club, when he was defaulted for inadvertently hitting a ball girl in the head. “This man knows a lot about this,” she laughed, before claiming Henman “begged” to keep playing. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Former British No. 1 Henman weighed in on Musetti’s outburst after the Italian received a code violation for kicking a ball but was spared the default. Musetti went on to beat Frances Tiafoe 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2, and Henman thought the 23-year-old would’ve felt hard done by if he was taken out of the tournament. “By the letter of the law, if you hit a ball away, kick a ball away in frustration and it hits a ball boy or a line judge or the umpire, that can be a disqualification. And so when you look at that, the umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification,” Henman explained. “However, if Musetti was disqualified for that, I think Musetti would feel very unlucky and very aggrieved. But if you’re kicking a ball away you’ve either got to be a better footballer and kick it in the right direction, or you are risking something like that.” The former world No. 4 then started to reference his own default from Wimbledon in 1995 when Stringer cut in.

Lorenzo Musetti reached the French Open semi-final after avoiding a default

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“I was going to say, this man knows a lot about this! Because Tim, you did get disqualified once at a Grand Slam. I don’t know if you can cast your minds back. Just tell everyone the story,” she laughed. Henman obliged and recalled the unfortunate events at the All England Club, adding: “30 years ago! “I was playing doubles with Jeremy Bates, we were two sets to one up and in a fourth set tiebreak so I’d like to think we were actually about to win the match and so it wasn’t in sort of a fit of anger. I wasn’t, on this occasion, throwing my toys out of the pram. “But our opponents had hit two lucky shots, I had just served, I had a ball in my pocket, I was turning away to walk back to the baseline to return, and I hit the ball away in a little bit of frustration but I wasn’t really looking. “The ball girl was on the other side of the ent and she popped her head up to then run across to the other side and I hit her in the head. And that’s a default.”

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